The British are coming: Award-winning English high school band returns for fifth U.S. tour

Submitted photo

By Stephanie Butzer/High Point Enterprise

Published: Friday, July 18, 2014 at 09:29 AM.

WANT TO GO? The Smithills School Senior Brass Band performs at First United Methodist Church at 7 p.m. Thursday, 190 E. Franklin Blvd., Gastonia. The concert is free. Donations are encouraged.

In 1999, Bill and Ellie Miller took their seats at a high school band concert in Bolton, a large town in northern England.

“We expected it was just going to be a regular school band,” said Bill Miller. “What we found was an extraordinary band with an extraordinary director.”

He said they were blown away by the ages of the kids, which ranged from 11 to 18, and the sophistication of the music they were playing.

The couple, from Rutherfordton, was so impressed, Ellie Miller invited the director, Chris Wormald, to bring the Smithills School Senior Brass Band to the United States to play for American audiences. The group made their first voyage to perform across the Atlantic in 2000.

Today, the band has played for the Queen and at the London Olympics, as well as in Japan, New Zealand and other countries in Europe. This month they will return for their fourth tour of North Carolina that includes a stop in Gastonia on Thursday.

Miller said he and his wife arranged the band’s itinerary for the upcoming tour and act as parents to the students.

WANT TO GO? The Smithills School Senior Brass Band performs at First United Methodist Church at 7 p.m. Thursday, 190 E. Franklin Blvd., Gastonia. The concert is free. Donations are encouraged.

In 1999, Bill and Ellie Miller took their seats at a high school band concert in Bolton, a large town in northern England.

“We expected it was just going to be a regular school band,” said Bill Miller. “What we found was an extraordinary band with an extraordinary director.”

He said they were blown away by the ages of the kids, which ranged from 11 to 18, and the sophistication of the music they were playing.

The couple, from Rutherfordton, was so impressed, Ellie Miller invited the director, Chris Wormald, to bring the Smithills School Senior Brass Band to the United States to play for American audiences. The group made their first voyage to perform across the Atlantic in 2000.

Today, the band has played for the Queen and at the London Olympics, as well as in Japan, New Zealand and other countries in Europe. This month they will return for their fourth tour of North Carolina that includes a stop in Gastonia on Thursday.

Miller said he and his wife arranged the band’s itinerary for the upcoming tour and act as parents to the students.

The cost of flying the whole band, which consists of about 50 students, to the United States was a heavy financial burden. Wormald said even though the school is from a socially deprived area, they still managed to raise $100,000 to pay for the expenses.

The brass band raised the money with concerts, sponsored events, outdoor Christmas appearances and sales from their professional CD they put out every year. Wormald said fundraising is a constant stressor once they commit to something, such as visiting North Carolina.

Ellie Miller said all the awards and recognition they have received is thanks to Wormald, who arranges everything the band plays.

“For the past 20 years, he has kept that promise and so these kids have been international champions everywhere they played,” Bill Miller said.

Some members of the band are as young as 11 or 12 years old and have never flown before. Wormald said even though they’re 3,000 miles from home and may have only started playing their instrument when they were turned 11, they are very good players.

“What we are doing at Smithills is providing life-changing opportunities for literally hundreds and hundreds of youngsters and giving them memories that they will never, ever forget,” Wormald said.